v/a: Never Normal Soundsystem Singles tape (Never Normal, 2018)

November 23, 2018 at 3:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

v/a: Never Normal Soundsystem Singles tape

Suzi Analogue’s Never Normal label released a series of digital singles this summer, mostly by up-and-coming artists. All of them are collected on this tape, which is available digitally or from Suzi in person. Most of the tracks are short and high-impact, starting with a footwork-influenced track from WORKFLOWW, Suzi’s project with Teklifer DJ Earl. Then there’s the choppy breaks, disco loops, and booty taunts of Ted Kamal’s “Coochie”. Following futuristic rap from RADiA and Nappy Nappa, there’s hybrid footwork-electro from J Words, whose “Dial” is light and speedy but also a bit jittery. On the second side, Ziggee Gold’s “Ode to Davina” is a highly intriguing bit of floating electro-R&B which suggests a lot more to come in its minute run time. The biggest eye-opener for me, however, is “They Still Hating” by No Eyes. Taking footwork-jungle hybridity to new extremes, this 11-minute monster encompasses too many emotions to count. It’s vicious, it’s savage, it’s sweet, it’s alienated, it’s hopeful, and it just bangs so hard. Somehow I’m being reminded of Christoph de Babalon, although this isn’t nearly as bleak. But it’s just so ambitious and overwhelming and powerful. Easily my favorite new artist of the year just based on the strength of this track.

iZueL_: We Will Never Be So Cool (Degenerate Trifecta, 2018)

November 23, 2018 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

iZueL_: We Will Never Be So Cool

iZueL_ is a new name to me, but the Munich-based Spanish techno producer has been releasing a ton of music the past few years. The ten tracks on this album are all absolute belters. Very heavy and doomy, and highly focused while still having a human adrenaline rush to it. Some of the tracks are just solid, barreling techno (particularly early standout “Scripturam” while others have more intricate beat patterns (such as opener “PT5-2”). “JustAnotherLoopyDruffiTrack2” is an exquisitely arranged panic attack which just keeps descending to deeper levels of chaos. “Loopy2 (Primavera)” is far more optimistic, and even has a vaguely chiptune-sounding melody. This is all incredibly solid, inventive, and functional techno from a name worth looking out for.

Crush Collision 11/22-23/18

November 23, 2018 at 11:49 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

10:01 pm Shigeto ft. Ian Fink ~ The Line Up
10:05 pm Max Cooper ~ Emptyset
10:09 pm Geotic ~ Maglev
10:13 pm Daniel Avery ~ Light of Falling Rain
10:19 pm DJ Arg ~ Pervers
10:24 pm RAAM ~ Blame
10:30 pm Eitan Reiter ~ Loop For Today (Sebastian Mullaert Live By The Dead Sea Remix)
10:39 pm Simoncino ~ Oh Baby Now
10:42 pm Maajo ~ Maajo (Call Super Remix)
10:49 pm Odeko ~ SodaJerk 3000
10:53 pm Otik ~ Notion
10:58 pm Pat Ca$h ~ Yakuza Beat
11:03 pm R Solution ~ Skinny Long Git
11:06 pm Andy Mac ~ Longships (Remix)
11:11 pm Mayacamas ~ Buttonwillow
11:14 pm Mitch Von Arx ~ Blizzard
11:21 pm Perel ~ Alles (Lawrence Le Doux Remix)
11:25 pm Amirali ~ Hidden Past (Fort Romeau Remix)
11:32 pm Tom Flynn ~ Marx
11:37 pm Sieren ~ Her Two Faces
11:40 pm DOTT ~ Hesitate To Turn Back (Boot Slap Ambient Remix)
11:46 pm Principleasure ~ Ryse
11:50 pm Myth ~ Falling Away
11:56 pm Man Power ~ Barranquilla Trifle (Ruf Dug Zouk Remix)
12:00 am SE62 ~ Night People
12:05 am Mathias Schaffhäuser ~ Spät noch raus
12:10 am Jay Anderson ~ Didn’t Care Too Much
12:15 am Âme ~ Positivland
12:19 am Marco Cassanelli ~ The Wrong Night
12:25 am Amine K ~ Hyperion (Dub Mix)
12:31 am Architectural ~ Electric Soul
12:37 am Avatism ~ Serpentine
12:44 am Dennis Quin ~ ACIDEN
12:48 am Orbital ~ Buried Deep Within
12:50 am Richie Blacker ~ Voices In The Echo
12:55 am Dodi Palese ~ Colourful Space
1:00 am Waajeed ft. Ideeyah ~ Strength (Jon Dixon Remix)
1:07 am Cassy x Pete Moss ~ You Gotta Know (Ron Trent Remix)
1:17 am In:State & Guili ~ Vizitoz (Lauer Remix)
1:21 am Mutant Dance Beat ~ Synthesized Antics of Evolution
1:27 am Love Island ~ Love Connection (Afterhours Mix)
1:31 am Westcoast Goddess ~ Blisstonia Babies
1:37 am Andre Wiken ~ Mameluco
1:39 am George Earnest ~ Dreaming Island
1:43 am Lauren Flax ~ Your Mom Likes Flange
1:48 am Posthuman ~ Jet Set
1:55 am Nathan Surreal ~ Eprex 4000

Black Noi$e: Illusions 2XLP (Vanity Press Records, 2018)

November 22, 2018 at 5:32 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Black Noi$e: Illusions 2XLP

Vanity Press Records’ first-ever full-length album is from Detroit hip-hop/house (but not hip-house) producer Black Noi$e, who released EPs on Vanity Press and Portage Garage Sounds last year. This album is filled with classic house vibes which are slightly broken and twisted. “Wake Up” is spacey and soulful, with glimmering piano fragments and a classic chugging house rhythm, sometimes augmented with a few extra kicks. “Ninety6” is co-produced by both Teklife’s DJ Taye and FXHE’s John FM, and it fashions a trippy, psychedelic loop to a stripped-down yet detailed house beat. “Jump Off A Building” hybridizes grime and house from an American perspective, fusing factory clanging with Godzilla horns. “Sunrize” is nothing less than what its title implies, with a truly hopeful melody fading in and shining through, in addition to shades of fluttering sax. “Pandemic” is closer to Stingray-esque electro but with sinister strings floating around. “B Lvde III” is a contaminated trap instrumental with clattering percussive loops and a thin but abrasive layer of swirling distortion. Screwball electro track “Oizo” is nearly wacky enough to resemble its namesake. “Xchange” is another grime-leaning house track, with brassy, waving bass dancing over its insistent, ticking beat. “Nite Drive” is exactly what it sounds like, and the type of melodic, cruising techno which could’ve come from nowhere else but Detroit.

Suzi Analogue @ University of Michigan, 11/10/18

November 21, 2018 at 11:33 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment













Drew McDowall & Hiro Kone @ UFO Factory, 11/15/18

November 21, 2018 at 11:23 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

UFO Factory is back!!!


The arcade games are still there!


And there’s new (old) ones too! Wizard of Wor!


Fog machine on because it’s Something Cold night


Jukebox is still there


Davin’s clouds are still there


Merch table


Laika Dog is open again too!


UFO Factory logo on floor


Something Cold


Bathroom slime art


Nate Young


Nate Young


Nate Young


Drew McDowall


Drew McDowall


Drew McDowall


Drew McDowall


Hiro Kone


Hiro Kone


Hiro Kone


Hiro Kone

VXO: s/t EP 12″ (Vanity Press Records, 2018)

November 14, 2018 at 10:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

VXO: s/t EP 12″

VXO stole the show on Color Plus’ Vanity Press EP from late last year. Now she has her own EP on the label, and it’s their first release with an actual printed sleeve and cover artwork. Produced by Color Plus, the record contains six songs with beats ranging from furious jungle to detached club mutations, all with yearning, ethereal vocals floating over them. “Why U Call Me” is a junglist pop song, with mashed-up breaks and sweet, commanding vocals up front. Following two more abstract songs, “Picture Of You” features tightly programmed, shifting breaks winding underneath more reflective, solace-seeking vocals. Then “Flower” is more manic yet dreamy jungle breaks, reaching Goldie-level cathartic, escapist beauty. The EP ends with “Alcanzarme”, a Baltimore club-inspired jam with rapid, complex, yet delicate-as-a-flower vocals in Spanish. Super inventive release, cannot get enough of this.

DimeSack: DimeSack Says God Says Fuck You LP (Blak Skul, 2018)

November 13, 2018 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

DimeSack: DimeSack Says God Says Fuck You LP

This one wins a whole buncha stupid points for the title and cover art. The record itself is extremely anti-social garage punk with synths splattered over much of it, primarily played by the masked maniac known as DimeSack, except for drums by Tony Mangolassi (producer Anthony Manganaro). The third song is called “My Life Is Shit”, and that basically sums up the theme of this album. Most of the songs thrash by in a minute or two, but “Precious Blood” is slower and doomier. “So Fucked Up” has a bit of Cramps-y swagger, but clearly raised on hardcore. The album gets progressively more pissed off and unruly, and it just goes over the top in its pure vitriol; by the end it ends up being pretty refreshing (and also perversely funny).

Crush Collision 11/8/18

November 9, 2018 at 12:29 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

10:02 pm Stave & Grebenstein ~ Stirn
10:05 pm Craig Bratley ~ 99.9% (Andrew Weatherall’s 100% Remix)
10:11 pm Daniel Avery ~ Glitter (Jon Hopkins Remix)
10:16 pm Ron Morelli ~ Border Dust (202 Version)
10:20 pm Nick Klein ~ Pushing Your Luck
10:22 pm Carlos Giffoni ~ Erase the World
10:25 pm Bambooman ~ Ricochet
10:30 pm Kill Them With Noise ~ Gravity Well
10:35 pm D.Y.A & Johannes Albert ~ Floating Dub
10:39 pm Actress ~ Watercolour Challenge
10:42 pm Eric Copeland ~ Fresco
10:46 pm Mike Simonetti ~ Solipsism
10:51 pm Joey Beltram ~ Energy Flash
10:56 pm Reinhard Voigt ~ Drei Millionen Kölsch
11:01 pm Thomas/Mayer ~ So Mad
11:06 pm Eris Drew ~ Hold Me (T4T Embrace Mix)
11:11 pm Carlton Doom ~ Rot
11:15 pm Powell ~ Rudeboy, Let’s Funk
11:19 pm Basic Soul Unit ~ Light Out
11:25 pm Dan HabarNam ~ High Pass Rambo
11:29 pm Ouri ~ We Share Our Blood
11:33 pm Chris Liebing ~ Novembergrey
11:40 pm Kaczmarek ~ |||||||
11:44 pm Johanna Knutsson & Hans Berg ~ Klimax
11:50 pm Legowelt ~ Sark Island Acid
11:55 pm Bendik Giske ~ Adjust (Rezzett Remix)

Show #464 – 11/3/18

November 3, 2018 at 1:24 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:02 am Dead Can Dance ~ Act II: The Mountain/The Invocation/The Forest/Psychopomp ~ Dionysus (new) ~ PIAS ~ 2018
2:19 am Julia Holter ~ Every Day Is An Emergency ~ Aviary (new) ~ Domino ~ 2018
2:29 am Swartz Et (local) ~ Saudade ~ A Living Thing (new) ~ Utter East ~ 2018
2:34 am Ian William Craig ~ The Last Wesbrook Lament ~ Thresholder (new) ~ Fatcat ~ 2018
2:36 am Oliver Coates ~ Perfect Apple With Silver Mark ~ Shelley’s On Zenn-La (new) ~ Rvng Intl. ~ 2018
2:45 am Kadhja Bonet ~ Wake ~ Childqueen Outtakes (new) ~ Fat Possum ~ 2018
2:51 am Heaters ~ Lysander ~ Suspended Youth (new) ~ Beyond Beyond Is Beyond ~ 2018
2:54 am Guttersnipe ~ God’s Will to Gain Access ~ My Mother the Vent (new) ~ Upset the Rhythm ~ 2018
3:05 am Guttersnipe ~ Tutti Frutti Chernobyl ~ Demo ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
3:14 am Gnod ~ Uncle Frank Says Turn It Down ~ Chapel Perilous (new) ~ Rocket Recordings ~ 2018
3:21 am Star Period Star ~ When Where Exceeds What ~ Daylight Spending Time (new) ~ Jet Propulsion Records ~ 2018
3:24 am Orchestra of Spheres ~ Ata ~ Mirror (new) ~ Fire ~ 2018
3:30 am Alice Coltrane ~ Lord of Lords ~ Lord of Lords ~ Impulse! ~ 1972
3:42 am Kelly Moran ~ Water Music ~ Ultraviolet (new) ~ Warp ~ 2018
3:49 am James Heather ~ And She Came Home (Mary Lattimore Rework) ~ Reworks (new) ~ Ahead Of Our Time ~ 2018
3:53 am Volcano Radar ~ The Quark and the Jaguar ~ Paquito Libre (new) ~ Delmark ~ 2018
4:00 am Fareed Haque & Kaia String Quartet ~ Anxiety ~ New Latin American Music For Guitar and String Quartet (new) ~ Delmark ~ 2018
4:05 am Ben Chatwin ~ Helix ~ Staccato Signals ~ Village Green ~ 2018
4:10 am Papa M ~ Spiegel Im Spiegel ~ A Broke Moon Rises (new) ~ Drag City ~ 2018
4:23 am Low ~ Always Up ~ Double Negative (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2018
4:29 am Xavier Garcia & Lionel Marchetti ~ Dix-Sept ~ Machine Lyrique (new) ~ Radio France ~ 2018
4:35 am Fatima ~ Somebody Else ~ And Yet It’s All Love (new) ~ Eglo ~ 2018
4:38 am VXO ~ Picture of You ~ VXO EP (new) ~ Vanity Press ~ 2018
4:42 am Kasper Marott ~ Microworld ~ Keflavik EP (new) ~ Seilscheibenpfeiler ~ 2018
4:49 am Public Practice ~ Foundation ~ Distance Is A Mirror (new) ~ Wharf Cat Records ~ 2018
4:53 am ATM ~ Caliente ~ The Inglewood Tapes Vol. 2 (new) ~ Radical Documents ~ 2018
4:56 am Nkisi ~ VII ~ 7 Directions (new) ~ UIQ ~ 2019
5:02 am Colin Potter ~ Just Another Five Minutes ~ The Where House? ~ Dark Entries ~ 1981
5:07 am Ectomorph (local) ~ Crawl of the Cthulu ~ Stalker (new) ~ Interdimensional Transmissions ~ 2018
5:15 am Actress ~ Lost ~ Splazsh ~ Honest Jon’s Records ~ 2010
5:22 am Lone ~ Temples (808 State Remix) ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
5:29 am Devotional (local) ~ track 2 ~ The Three Paths (new) ~ self-released ~ 2018
5:39 am Beast ~ Staren ~ Ens (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2018
5:45 am Jlin ~ Anamnesis (Part 2) ~ Autobiography (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2018
5:49 am Portishead ~ Biscuit ~ Dummy ~ Go! Discs ~ 1994
5:54 am Makaya McCraven ~ Voila ~ Universal Beings (new) ~ International Anthem ~ 2018

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